Surface controlled, subsurface safety valves are commonly used to shut in oil and gas wells should a failure or hazardous condition occur at the well surface. Such safety valves are typically fitted into the production tubing and operate to block the flow of formation fluid upwardly through the production tubing. The subsurface safety valve provides for automatic shutoff of production flow in response to one or more well safety conditions that can be sensed and/or indicated at the surface, for example, a fire on the platform, high/low line pressure condition, high/low flow line temperature condition, and operator override. During production, the subsurface safety valve is held open by the application of hydraulic fluid pressure conducted to the subsurface safety valve through an auxiliary control conduit which is extended along the tubing string within the annulus between the tubing and the well casing.